As a recent graduate, you are likely to be presented with many new opportunities, perhaps even a new career and therefore a significant lifestyle change. Yet amid all these changes it is important to prepare for repaying your loan, including the interest which will have accumulated during your studies.
Usually, repayments are not required until after your graduation, nor until you are earning an annual income above the compulsory repayment threshold of at least $54,000. At this point, your loan contributions will be equivalent to percentage of your repayment income and will increase accordingly as your salary or income increase. If however, you wish to pay off your loan more quickly, it is possible to make larger, individual payments at any time without a financial penalty.
You are not likely to fail to make loan repayments, since they are managed by the Australian Taxation Office and automatically deducted from your salary by your employer through the Pay As You Earn scheme (PAYE), alongside your tax and Superannuation payments. At this point, the role of the education provider is minor: they are only informed of your total repayments at the end of the financial year. It is also possible to have your HELP debt remitted and FEE-HELP balance recredited under particular circumstances if you are still studing. If your earnings drop below the repayment threshold at any point during the course of the financial year, you will not have the loan amount deducted in that financial period, if it is you may request a refund of the amount that you have overpaid.
If you decide to live and work abroad after graduation, payments must continue to be made directly to the Australian Taxation Office, because you are still bound by Australian Government guidelines and the tax authorities. The income threshold at which you are required to make repayments may also be higher or lower, than AUS$54,000, in order to compensate for the difference in living costs in other countries.
Should you to return to higher education to study a second degree at a later stage and be granted another student loan, your existing loan repayments will be suspended until you have graduated for the second time and are required to make repayments again. However, if your yearly income exceeds $54,000 as a student, you must continue to pay off your initial loan.
You will not have to make repayments if your annual salary does not reach the income threshold of $54,000 and will remain outstanding until you do. Your debts will also not be cancelled if you are declared Bankrupt or die, or become permanently disabled and are no longer able to work as a result.
For more information regarding loan repayment, see:
> StudyAssist - Loan Repayment
